L’Oréal – Voluminous Mascara

Each month Venus & Virgo will feature guest writers from the beauty industry to post about their favorite products, trade tools, and trends.

This month I am inspired by bi-coastal celebrity make-up artist Linda Kaufman. Linda’s work has been featured in over twenty films, as well as numerous fashion and television shows including Germany’s Next Top Model and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

When I approached Linda about writing a piece for Venus & Virgo, she asked if I had any specific parameters. In response, I simply asked her the following two questions: What’s in your bag? If you booked a job today and could only bring one item with you, what would it be? As you will read below, a girl should never leave the house without her favorite mascara…

Gregory

Beauty is in the eye…..lashes

by Linda Kaufman

I always begin a makeup application with the eyes. Why? They can make a huge impact and lessen the need for other makeup. Despite being the windows to our souls and a very handy tool in the fine art of flirting, eyes are also one of the quickest ways to make your entire appearance seem more polished. To simplify, I would go so far as to say that if I was allowed only one type, brand or instrument of makeup, I would choose mascara.

I think that a good mascara is a fast, efficient and beautiful way to enhance your beauty by adding a bit of polish and drama. In a pinch you can use it to tame fly-aways, cover gray or tint and mold your eyelashes. Whatever look you aim for, mascara will be the tool to enhance your beauty in a simply stunning way.

There is a cornucopia of really wonderful brands out there. The problem is that shopping for something as seemingly simple as mascara can bog you down in a never-ending series of choices. Mascaras come in liquids, cakes and creams. There are browns, blondes and blacks, and within each subcategory of color there are more rubrics such as carbon black, blackest black, ebony black, black brown etc. This is before you even branch out into the exotic purples, greens, golds and blues that many companies are making. This is just the color! There are also thickening, lengthening, separating, magnifying and hydrating brands which come in all the aforementioned colors as well as waterproof. There are mascaras that do not wash off for weeks, there are those that peel off, flake off, or just smudge when you do not want them to. The bristles are thick, thin, long, short, plastic, and cone-shaped. It’s a lot for me to sort through, so I can only imagine that for most people this is a choice that SHOULD be simple but ends up being overwhelming. Add into the mix the prices range from $3.00 to roughly $40.00 and the fact that you SHOULD replace your product every 3-5 months, and all of a sudden the easiest thing in your makeup bag just got complicated.

Let’s uncomplicate the most usable item of beauty enhancement. Let’s face it – rich, long, flirty eyelashes are not going to go out of style, and mascara is the makeup equivalent of a little black dress and should be affordable, easy to find, and make you feel like a million bucks.

L’Oréal Voluminous Mascara has been my mascara of choice since the beginning of my career. I carry it in my personal makeup bag as well. Starting in 1907 with hair dye, L’Oréal continues to be a giant amongst cosmetics companies, bringing affordable quality products to your local chemists. Their mascara is readily available and quite budget friendly at $3.00 to $8.00 (depending on where you purchase it). Voluminous wears all day without smudging, is fragrance free, allergy and ophthalmologist tested, and is suitable for contact wearers. Also, it’s wonderful. While it still comes in colors and different formulas (that thicken or lengthen or magnify) the original formula is amazing. If you want to get really fancy you can always choose between a curved brush and a straight one.

When it comes to application, the tricks are simple:

Go slowly!

Hold the brush in a horizontal line at your lash and wiggle it slowly (see rule 1) right and left as you edge your way to the top.

For the bottom lashes, do not re-dip the wand and just press it lightly to your lower lashes from root to tip.

Especially for those of us who were not born with gorgeous dark lashes, the right mascara can turn you into a put together woman in under three minutes. And why should you spend the time? L’Oréal’s slogan, like the mascara itself, is succinct, uplifting and true: “Because you’re worth it!”